After Surgery

Scotty has come very far since his first surgery. His balance has gotten better and he wears a patch on each for 2 hrs a day to build up strength in his wandering eye. Dr. Hoffman say's he is optimistic and feels he will make a full recovery with his right eye as the swelling goes down. His vision is good 20/20 in his left and 20/25 in the right. His only issue with the wandering eye is that he sees double and his eyes get tired and burn. Scotty goes to physical therapy once a week and his Physical Therapist name is Hope Jensen she is wonderful. Scotty is going to school only part time for now. He isn't allowed to go out for recess he has to follow the 2 feet rule "both feet on the ground." He has gone to watch him Team play football and cheers his Team on during their games. He truly misses not playing football this year but, he says "every football player has a story." He is just the strongest kid and has the best attitude. I will admit though he has been moody at times & his sisters Kierra & Kellie put up with a lot of his crap but, they still love him.

Scotty's Battle

Scotty was first diagnosed with his tumor on July 28th,2009. What started with a headache ended up being our worst night mare. Scotty had complained of headaches from time to time but, we didn't think much of it. How often do kids get headaches & we just give them motrin. Well, on July 28th it got worse. My husband called me at work to tell me Scotty was vomiting & he was concerned and that we needed to get him in immediately. I rushed home & we took him to emergency at Alta View Hospital. When we arrived Scotty's right arm had gone numb & doctors immediately came into his room and started him on morphine through an IV. Scotty got worse and became even more nauseated. The Doctor recommended we do a cat scan and we agreed. When the doctor came in with the nurse I could tell it wasn't good news. The Doctor advised us Scotty had a mass in his head about 5-6 cm big and wanted him transferred to Primary Children's Hospital immediately. When we arrived at Primary we were greeted by one of the surgeons. They were very kind and treated us very good considering what we were just told. They took Scotty in for a MRI where he came out with a EDT in his head to drain the fluid from his brain. We than met with Dr. Douglas Brockmeyer who advised us Scotty's tumor was massive & they needed to get in and do surgery immediately he wasn't sure if and what the tumor was attached too. Scott and I stood there helpless not knowing what to say or do and at the same time my heart hurt. Scotty had surgery the very next day 07-29-09 he was in there for 4 1/2 hrs. When Dr. Brockmeyer was finished he advised us that he removed as much of the tumor as he could. He advised that there was a portion left on his brain stem. He also advised us that he went in blind & with all the swelling he wouldn't know if the surgery worked or not until the swelling went down. Scotty was in the hospital for 14 day's. He was the strongest kid & is our Hero. He was released from the hospital with request that he only go to school 2 hrs a day & do physical therapy. He also needed to see an opthamologist Dr. Hoffman. The swelling from his brain pressed up against his optic nerve witched caused him to have a wandering eye.